Page 44 of Candy Cane Dreams
"You did?"
"I told him if I couldn't have my mommy back, I wanted a new mommy."
Jack's mouth dropped. It could have been uncomfortable, but Kate stepped in at that moment.
"Of course He's going to bring you a new mommy. God gives us every good gift. I'm so happy you're not sad anymore. We need to celebrate!" Kate said, her eyes sparkling.
"Yes, we need to celebrate." It was way past her bedtime, so he said, “You can stay up a little later tonight after your bath and we can talk about what fun things we want to do to celebrate.”
Jack paused, and then he said, "I should take Miss Kate out for dinner to celebrate, if she'll let me." He turned questioning eyes to her.
She nodded immediately; maybe it was only because she was overcome with what had happened with Lilly. But she didn't seem to think twice.
Between them, Lilly smiled, as though that was what she wanted all along, and maybe it was. Maybe that was celebrating to her too.
They stood there for a while, Jack overcome with happiness, but it was getting late, and Lilly needed to go to school in the morning, no matter how exciting that evening had been. He had a few things he needed to say to Kate, so he said to Lilly, "I think it's time for you to go upstairs and get ready for bed. I will be up in a few minutes. We definitely have some celebrating to do, don't we?"
Lilly nodded and smiled, and then she leaned in, one arm around Kate, the other arm around Jack, and hugged them both tight, drawing them together. Jack suddenly was aware of exactly how close he was to Kate, and that his arm had been around her shoulders for a while. They were small and delicate, but felt warm under his arm. Her strawberry candy scent drifted up to his nose, and the soft brush of her hair sent tingles on his arm.
Lilly pulled away and went running for the stairs, leaving him feeling a little awkward. How did he drop his arm from her shoulder without being weird about it? Especially when he wanted to leave it there, to draw her tighter, to kiss her.
Really? Was that what he wanted?
Definitely. It was definitely what he wanted, but was it wise?
"Thank you. You've done so much for her, and for us. Your presence here has just been a real blessing this holiday season. Let me take you out to dinner to celebrate?"
He hadn't been planning on asking her out, although if he were being honest, he'd thought about it over and over and over again while he worked in the shop during the day without her, longing for the time when she would walk through the door with Lilly. She had taken to bringing Lilly home and saving him the trip. And he looked forward to both of them, equally.
"I'd love to," she said easily.
She didn't seem to hesitate or anything, and he figured he'd better ask the question that had been plaguing him.
"Is this something that's going to get you in trouble with your job?"
"Going out to eat with you to celebrate Lilly's progress?" she asked, sounding truly puzzled.
"Yeah. Are there some kind of rules about dating clients or anything?"
"Well, if I were dating Lilly, it might be an issue, but Lilly's dad... I don't think so. I don't think the school will have any problem with that at all. In fact, I kind of feel like the community might be happy that you found someone—that you're getting out again, anyway," she added quickly, as though she didn't want to presume that she was the one for him.
He wanted to tell her that she was more "the one" than Lauren had been, but he didn't. Maybe she was just saying yes because she didn't want to ruin the evening by saying no.
Regardless, she started to move away, and he imitated her movement, allowing his hand to slide down, feeling warm skin and a brush of her fingers as he did so, her scent coming with him, and he wished he could bottle it up, hold it with him, use it to remember this moment, and this woman, and the celebration of his daughter finally speaking.
And what words. She had accepted the fact that her mother had died, was happy that she was in heaven, and was ready for a new mom—in fact, believed that God had sent Kate.
What if Kate wasn't the one? What if Kate didn't agree to be her new mom?
Was that something they needed to talk about?
Probably, but maybe not tonight.
"I need to be getting home. I have some paperwork I need to fill out for my job, and some work I need to do on the festival.Are you still okay with me cutting out now?" she asked, and he remembered belatedly that she had said that she needed to leave early tonight.
Disappointment cut through him, but then he remembered that they were going out.
"Is tomorrow okay to go out to eat?"
